Clinton's propaganda wars

Tanya K. Metaksa is the former executive director of the National
Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action. She is the
author of "Safe, Not Sorry," a self-protection manual, published
in 1997. She has appeared on numerous talk and interview shows such
as "Crossfire," the "Today" show, "Nightline," "This Week with David
Brinkley" and the "McNeil-Lehrer Hour," among others.

President Clinton has not only been waging a real international war
against Yugoslavia for several months but he has been attacking
Milosevic and his people in a propaganda war in which he is utilizing
many of the methods he developed and keeps perfecting in his national
war on guns. The parallels in the propaganda strategy are startling. The
similarities come in three areas: personification, tactics, and
propaganda.

In order to develop support for the air campaign Clinton first
compared Milosevic to Hitler. A tactic that brings up hateful memories
of the persecution of minority groups, termination of civil liberties,
and the slaughter of innocent civilians in barbaric concentration camps.
In this manner he set the stage for the demonization not only of
Milosevic, but also of the Serb people. The Serbs are defamed for their
support or even their acquiescence to Milosevic’s government. After all,
if one isn’t working towards the overthrow of such a monster, one must
be supporting him. The underlying theory is that if a wedge can be
driven between Milosevic and the people under his rule, they might
support the overthrow of his regime.

Clinton’s national war against gun owners has been going on for much
longer than the war against Yugoslavia. And as a result he has had time
to sharpen his tactics of defamation. For the past six years he has
chosen to try and drive a wedge between American gun owners and the
National Rifle Association (NRA). In order to accomplish this objective
he and his allies in the Democratic Party, the U.S. Congress, the
anti-gun lobby, and the media have vilified and demonized the NRA.

But let’s be honest, it didn’t start when Bill Clinton became
president. It started in the mid ’80s when the anti-gun politicians led
by then Congressman Chuck Schumer seized upon the notion of “cop killer
bullets.” No matter that the product didn’t exist. No matter that the
NRA helped write the definition which banned armor piercing ammunition.
The erroneous view that the NRA supported ammunition specifically aimed
at only police officers persisted and still endures to this day.

Bill Clinton was quick to promote the deceptions of the gun
prohibitionist lobby. He invoked the image of “assault weapons,” and
supported the notion of waiting periods and background checks in the
original Brady Bill. Then he went one step farther. He portrayed himself
as a gun owner and hunter, thereby seeking to drive a wedge between the
largest segment of gun owners and the NRA. And, when the Clinton Crime
Bill passed in 1994, it included a ban on “assault weapons” because he
assured hunters that their hunting rifles were not included. But that
vote backfired politically. Even Clinton credited the NRA with being
instrumental in giving the Republican Party control of the Congress. It
appeared in early 1995 that Clinton’s position on gun control had
backfired.

But “the comeback kid” got a new political lease on life. An insane
act of violence with fertilizer and kerosene in Oklahoma City gave him a
new forum. He quickly turned the bombing of the Murrah building into a
cause for more gun control. He added new villains to the NRA: patriots,
militias, and religious fundamentalists. With the media in full support,
his attack against the NRA was resumed with renewed vigor and continues
to this day.

To gain support of the NATO war Bill Clinton has used the argument
that the US and NATO had to defend of those Kosovo civilians, especially
the children, who were being killed by the Serbs. The tactic is
familiar: –”it’s for the children.” The media has helpfully reinforced
that concept with picture after picture of Kosovo refugee children. It’s
irrelevant that our bombs have killed innocent children–Albanians and
Serbs–on both sides of the fight. His original promise of no ground troops has, like all Clinton promises, become just one more expedient lie.

An identical tactic has been used in the war against gun owners. The
crime rate plummets, and the number of firearms accidents involving
children has dropped several years in a row making gun control less
likely to reduce crime. So the argument for more gun control has become
the prevention of maiming and killing children. As a result Clinton’s
gun prohibitionist allies have created new age definitions for children.
According to Handgun Control, Inc. (HCI) and the Violence Prevention
Center adults up to the age of 24 have remained as “children” for the
purposes of compiling firearms statistics. The viability of this tactic
has been further solidified by the terrible school tragedies over the
past two years. We can see this tactic in action as the U.S. Senate this
week passed an amendment to force handguns to be sold with trigger
locks.

The White House bully pulpit propaganda machine has been working
overtime to sell the American people on the war in Kosovo. In Yugoslavia
NATO has been bombing power facilities as well as the TV stations to
keep Yugoslavia from broadcasting their side of the story to the world.
As a result news correspondents from the NATO countries now only get
stories with a definite Albanian/KLA slant. Despite this one sided view
of the war, the latest polls
show that U.S. public support for the NATO offensive and Clinton’s
foreign policy to be slipping.

The Clinton propaganda machine has been working overtime not only in
the last six weeks, but the past six years supporting his war on guns.
In the last six weeks since the Columbine massacre the major newspapers
have averaged about five stories and/or editorials per week in support
of Clinton’s gun control proposals. The editorial policy of the major
dailies is almost 100 percent in favor of more and more control of
firearm manufacture, purchase, storage, and usage.

The TV news shows have kept up with their print colleagues. The
coverage is definitely one sided. Most articles, including news stories
are over 95 percent slanted in favor of the Clinton agenda. On the
Internet, The New York Times has a series named “America under the Gun”
while the Washington Post has a page named “The Gun Fight”
where each new article on gun control can be found. CNN has a special
web site named “Guns Under Fire”. And a web search for
articles on the gun issue even turns up anti-gun press releases from the
Democratic National Committee.

Mr. Clinton’s methodology has had great success in the national war
against guns. It’s the old adage that if a lie is repeated often enough,
sooner or later people will believe it. According to yesterday’sWashington Post,
“a Washington Post/ABC News Poll showed overwhelming public support for
some of the gun control measures at issue. The poll showed that 89
percent of Americans support background checks on people buying guns at
gun shows and that 75 percent support trigger locks on all stored guns.”

The same strategy in the international arena may not be so
successful. There appear to be too many people who hold independent
opinions of the viability of our present course of action in Kosovo. And
there does not appear to be enough time to vilify everyone who doesn’t
agree with Clinton’s policy. However, don’t count Bill Clinton out. He’s
not nicknamed “the comeback kid” for nothing. He is a master at changing
his opinions and tactics. The Clinton policy in the Balkans is heading
towards creating a wasteland where more and more people will become a
victim of governments, pseudo governments, and criminals. The Clinton
policy on guns is creating a society where more people become victims of
the criminals, who laugh at all the foolish gun laws being passed.